Detroit victory ties NHL record
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Red Wings right wing Johan Franzen celebrates his goal against the Flyers Sunday in Detroit. The Red Wings won, 4-3.
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The Detroit Red Wings equaled an NHL record with their 20th consecutive win at home, beating the Philadelphia Flyers, 4-3, on the strength of Johan Franzen's tiebreaking goal early in the third period.
The league mark was set by the Boston Bruins during the 1929-30 season and matched by Philadelphia in 1976. Detroit can break the record with a win Tuesday night against the Dallas Stars at Joe Louis Arena.
Philadelphia rookie Brayden Schenn had a career-high two goals, helping the Flyers take the first of two leads they couldn't keep against a team that hasn't lost at home since Nov. 3 against Calgary.
Detroit goalie Joey MacDonald overcame shaky clearing attempts that led to two goals and finished with 26 saves.
Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 21 shots for the Flyers.
Bobrovsky's head was on a swivel in the opening minute of the third period when Henrik Zetterberg and Nicklas Lidstrom made diagonal passes to set up Franzen in front of the net for his 22nd goal.
Bobrovsky got a break moments later when Valtteri Filppula deked him and lifted a shot over the open net.
The Flyers went on the power play midway through the third but couldn't tie the score.
They pulled Bobrovsky with just more than a minute left to add an extra skater, but he had to go back in net briefly when Franzen got to a loose puck and Kimmo Timonen was called for holding him.
Lidstrom played in his 1,550th game, the most by an NHL player who spent his entire career with one team. He broke the mark set by former Red Wings great Alex Delvecchio.
Fans stood and chanted, "Let's go Red Wings!" during the final minutes and cheered wildly when the clock hit zero.
Fired-up fans at Joe Louis Arena wanted to see a league mark matched and one of them hurled an octopus on the ice during the national anthem, an act usually reserved for a playoff game.
• Rangers 3, Capitals 2: Ryan Callahan scored for the fifth time in four days and defenseman Ryan McDonagh snapped a second-period tie to lift visiting New York to a victory against Washington. Callahan, who notched his second NHL hat trick Saturday with three goals in a 5-2 win at Philadelphia, got the Eastern Conference leaders going Sunday in the first period.
• Panthers 4, Islanders 1: Kris Versteeg, Tomas Fleischmann, Tyson Strachan and Jack Skille scored as visiting Florida rolled to a victory against New York. Florida's Jose Theodore made 26 saves in his first appearance since Jan. 20 after a knee injury.
• Ducks 5, Blue Jackets 3: Corey Perry scored three goals for his fifth career hat trick -- and second against Columbus this season -- to lead surging Anaheim past the host Blue Jackets.
• Kings 4, Stars 2: Jordan Nolan and Dwight King each scored their first career goal and visiting Los Angeles beat Dallas in a matchup of Western Conference playoff contenders.
• Blues 3, Sharks 0: David Perron and Alex Pietrangelo both scored with a two-man advantage and Andy McDonald had an assist in his return from a concussion that sidelined him for 51 games, sending host St. Louis past San Jose.
First Published February 13, 2012 12:00 am
